Long cables from turntable or phono stage

Ninox, in the case you described just above my guess is that the total load capacitance would probably not be very far outside of the recommended 150-300 pf range for either setting of the Moon's input capacitance. And it's quite possible that you might even be within that range for both settings. So while I would expect the two settings to result in some difference in sonics in the treble region, both settings would have to be tried to determine which is preferable.

A point to be aware of, btw, is that the "0 pf" setting will not really be zero. It will be some small amount of stray capacitance in the connectors and internal wiring, plus some small amount of input capacitance of the circuitry. The "100 pf" setting will presumably be 100 pf greater than that amount.

Regards,
-- Al

Al,

The input capacitance of the JC-3 is about 200 pF. I'll probably use Mogami 2549 cable cut to length for my application, most likely around 3'. I suspect LA Pro Audio can tell me the capacitance per foot. They've been very responsive to making cable lengths to my specification. The advice I'm getting is to keep the cable short without putting the motor of the TD 124 on top of the JC-3.

Thanks for your help.
db

Db,

Here is the link to the Mogami spec sheet:

http://www.mogamicable.com/category/bulk/microphone/quality_balanced/

I bought my cable online at Redco Audio in CT

09-22-13: Dbphd
The input capacitance of the JC-3 is about 200 pF.

Interesting. I'm surprised it's that high. The optimal load capacitance for many and probably most MM's falls somewhere in the area of 100 to 300 pf. A phono stage input capacitance of 200 pf would make it impossible to optimally match nearly all of those cartridges, the possible exceptions being those in the 250 to 300 pf area when used with short lengths of low capacitance cables.

How did you obtain that information?

Best regards,
-- Al

DB, after checking further I found the following quotes from John Curl, the very distinguished designer who as you are undoubtedly aware did the electrical design of the JC-3. The quotes appear on pages 3953 and 3956 of this thread:

There is a 100pf cap at the input to ground for the JC-3. Some criticism has made me now wonder if 50 pf might be better?

... My best guess at this time [May 20, 2013] is that the effective input capacitance of the JC-3 is 125pf or slightly less. I could drop that in half, and I might, in future. The potential advantage may not be worth much. I will think about it.

Best regards,
-- Al